Virginia batters UNC ace

DURHAM, N.C. — It appeared the legs of Virginia first-base coach Eddie Smith had all but fallen asleep as he attempted to stumble back to the dugout after the third inning.

There was an explanation.

The Cavaliers’ assistant baseball coach had just stood in the coaches’ box down the line for 47 consecutive minutes.

It was a problem that Virginia welcomed with open arms.

During the longest and most productive half-inning of the season, the Cavaliers sent 15 batters to the plate, terrorized a future client of super-agent Scott Boras and watched every player in the batting order cross the plate.

When the dust settled, sixth-seeded Virginia had knocked All-American candidate Alex White from the team’s second contest in the ACC tournament en route to an 11-1 victory that mercifully was halted in the eighth inning by virtue of the event’s 10-run rule.

Virginia merely needed to win Saturday’s late evening contest against seventh-seeded Duke to advance to today’s title game against Florida State. The championship game starts at 1 p.m.

Originally mired in a scoreless battle with the Tar Heels, the 10-run third inning stunned a pro-UNC crowd at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

“[White] is one of the top pitchers in the country, if not the top pitcher in the country. To score 10 runs in an inning is really remarkable,” said Virginia coach Brian O’Connor. “I just don’t know what to say about it.”

In all, Virginia slapped out nine hits and capitalized on three walks against White, considered a top 5 pick in June’s MLB Draft, and later against reliever Brian Moran.

“It is amazing what can happen on a team when your confidence is high … and guys get big hits,” O’Connor said. “It just seems to snowball and I think that’s what happened in that inning. “Obviously, that inning was the complete story of the game.”

It started with a towering double off the “Blue Monster” in left field off the bat of Tyler Cannon.

Virginia catcher Franco Valdes followed with a bouncing single up the middle. Jarrett Parker, Virginia’s All-ACC center fielder, second baseman Phil Gosselin and first baseman John Hicks all followed with one-out singles, pushing the advantage to 2-0 and leaving the bases loaded.

White, who entered with a perfect record against the Cavaliers, suddenly came unraveled as radar guns tracked his every movement on the mound.

On four pitches, Virginia right fielder Dan Grovatt drew a bases-loaded walk to add another run.

Steven Proscia followed with what North Carolina coach Mike Fox coined an “aluminum bat” single, a blooper that drifted into shallow right field.

After a wild pitch from White and another four-pitch walk, Virginia had the bases loaded and a 5-0 lead. That chased White, who was perfect in the first two innings, from the contest.

“I made some bad pitches and they got hits. I made some pretty decent pitches and they got hits,” White said. “I couldn’t seem to find an out when I needed it or a big strikeout.”

Virginia, which opened the tournament with a 6-5 win over third-seeded Clemson in Pool B, was not done yet.

Moran, the Tar Heels’ best reliever, was summoned and fanned Cannon on five pitches.

It what could have been the most meaningful plate appearance in the game, Valdes followed with an 11-pitch walk that included five foul balls.

“Like most at-bats, everything happens real quick. Before I knew it I was at 2-2 and started battling to stay up at the plate,” said Valdes, the lone player to score twice in the third inning. “[Moran] was just trying to create some contact, throwing fastballs in there to try and get me out. “Basically, I just tried to open up and put the ball in play and I just fouled off everything that I could and try to put a ball in play. He threw one down in the dirt and I just let that one go.”

It was just the fifth walk of the season allowed by Moran, a lefty who has thrown 57.1 innings this season.

John Barr, a surprise starter in left field against a right-handed starter, drove in two more runs in the third off Moran as he laced a single into center, giving the Cavaliers an 8-0 lead.

Parker and Gosselin followed suit with run-scoring singles of their own, completing the scoring in the frame.

“We had one of the innings that as a coach you kind of dream about, [have] nightmares about. You wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night,” Fox said. “You dream about those innings sometimes where you just cannot get an out.

“You can’t get the first one. You can’t get the second one. You can’t get the third one.”

It was ample run support for Virginia starter Danny Hultzen, who dazzled as North Carolina’s batters suddenly became too aggressive.

Hultzen (8-1) pitched into the seventh inning, allowing five hits and one earned run, a solo homer to Levi Michael.

“I will take it,” O’Connor said of playing the back half of the game with a huge lead. “It allowed Danny to go out there and attack their hitters.

“You saw their approach right after it happened. They were very aggressive, swinging at first pitches and trying to swing their way back into it.”

Upending UNC, a perennial powerhouse known for making appearances in the College World Series, did not come as a complete shock to O’Connor.

The score itself, however, may have.

“I have spoke, all year about this, I think this team has the best character and the best team unity that I have coached in my six years here,” he said. “I say it every time and that is not to discredit any of the previous teams, but we have a really tight unit that feed off each other.”

“We have down in a number of ballgames and fought our way back like we did [against Clemson]. It is a special quality. They all kind of jump on each other’s back and do the job for the team.”

Having raced out to a 2-0 start in the pool-play event, national pundits debated the merits of Virginia landing a Charlottesville Regional in the NCAA tournament, which opens on Friday.

The 16 regional hosts will be announced today at 3:30 p.m., likely during the final innings of the ACC tournament’s title game.

While a possibility based on Virginia’s lofty RPI, postseason possibilities have not been approached in Virginia’s camp.

“I have never talked to the team about this and they will tell you that. I am not concerned about it,” O’Connor said. “If the committee feels like we are worthy of it, then we will take it and we will take the opportunity to play at home. We are never going to go into a tournament or any games and try to prove that our team is worthy of that.

“Obviously, winning these two games sends a message of what kind of club we have and maybe we are deserving, but whatever happens happens. This club has played very well on the road this year so whether it is in Charlottesville or Timbuktu, we will play and we will play the same way.”

Virginia has at least one believer on board.

“They are a good team,” Fox said. “I have said all along that they are one of the best teams in our league. I think they should [host a regional], but it is certainly not my decision.

“They are a very good team and they are a very young team, but they got some guys that can really play, I think.”